Velvet
Revolver - Live in Houston

Velvet Revolver was supposed to be the state of the art of the new supergroup.

Essentially, most of the classic lineup of Guns’N’Roses decided that they
were tired of dealing with a drug-addled, self-absorbed, headline-grabbing
drama-king frontman like Axl Rose (the feeling was mutual, the fight between
Rose and the rest of the guys was one of the uglier rock’n’roll divorces in
history.) So, instead the guys set their sights on … uhhh … Scott Weiland
of Stone Temple pilots, a drug-addled, self-absorbed, headline-grabbing
drama king.

It
was a combustible mix (between Slash, Duff and Weiland, the bar bills alone
must have been astounding), but it was also a group of extremely talented
musicians jamming, so the upside potential was huge.

Velvet Revolver never quite lived up to the hype, releasing two
moderate-selling CDs and touring over a few years. Live in Houston
captures the band while the bloom is still on the rose, on a stop of the
tour for the debut CD Contraband.

It
goes without saying that the musicianship is impressive. The band pounds
out “Sucker Train Blues,” “Set Me Free” and the minor hits
“Slither” and “Fall to Pieces”
with passion and fire.

Then
as the show is winding down, Velvet Revolver does a cover of the
controversial and well known Guns’N’Roses album track “Used to Love Her”
from G’N’R Lies. (You know, the one that goes “Used to love her, but
then I had to kill her.”) And this little snippet of the past points out an
obvious truth – Velvet Revolver’s music simply isn’t as good as Guns’N’Roses
old stuff had been. (I’m not gonna comment on Chinese Democracy
because these guys had nothing to do with that long-brewing fiasco.)

In
fact, Velvet Revolver’s music isn’t even as good as that of Stone Temple
Pilots – a band that was essentially derided for being a Pearl Jam wannabe
through much of their career – as is shown by VR’s show-closing cover of STP’s “Sex Type Thing.”

Velvet Revolver continued on a few years after this show, but eventually
such a combustible combo couldn’t last. Slash went solo, yet again, and
Weiland mended fences with his old STP bandmates for a typically dramatic
reunion tour.

However, with all this talent aboard, Live in Houston is a never less
than intriguing. It is a snapshot of an interesting footnote in rock and
roll history – a look at a terrific band of players that never quite lived
up to their potential, but had skills up the wazoo.